


Love Was Such An Easy Game To Play || tyob 2020 gift fic for xofunghoul

by AnironSidh



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF, Queen (Band)
Genre: 3.5k, Canon Relationships, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Flashbacks, Fluff, Getting Together, Gift Exchange, Gift Fic, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Picnics, RPF, This got away from me so fast, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, but its' here now, for xofunghoul, it's vv late but here it is, the gang is here, two years of borhap event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnironSidh/pseuds/AnironSidh
Summary: A look back at how Ben and Joe figured things out, got together, made a home with each other, and in which Joe has just one question in mind.-A gift fic for xofunghoul and the two years of borhap exchange on tumblr (modded by maz-zello and myself). Prompt was for hardzello, fluff, domestic moments. I think I did pretty well, let me know what y'all think in the comments!
Relationships: Ben Hardy & Gwilym Lee & Rami Malek & Joe Mazzello, Ben Hardy/Joe Mazzello, Lucy Boynton/Rami Malek
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8
Collections: Two Years of BoRhap 2020 Exchange





	Love Was Such An Easy Game To Play || tyob 2020 gift fic for xofunghoul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xofunghoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xofunghoul/gifts).



**Plain text is present day, italics is flashbacks**

It was strange, how things turned out sometimes. Downloaded one song on Napster  _ years _ ago, or at least it felt like it, and a ridiculously lucky audition got him here, somehow. 

Across from him, Ben made a sort of snuffling sound in his sleep. Joe absentmindedly reached over to brush a stray blond curl behind Ben’s ear, his hand lingering against the other’s cheek for a moment longer. There was barely a sound in the room besides the soft sound of Ben’s breathing. He looked so different when he slept, peaceful instead of the intensity he could show sometimes. 

Like when they’d met, Joe thought. There’d been something there even then. 

-

_ It was nice to see Rami again, they’d both gotten pretty busy since they parted on The Pacific, and Joe’d missed the easy friendship they’d had back then. Getting the role of John Deacon had been a stroke of luck, especially so after he’d found out that Rami had been cast as Freddie Mercury. He watched Rami prance around the room again, broom in one hand in place of a microphone stand and a mustache scribbled onto his face with a spare marker, in a half-decent mimicry of Freddie’s walk.  _

_ The door opened just as Rami struck a pose, one arm up in the air and the hand holding the broom pointing down, and proceeded to trip over said broom. Joe bent double in laughter at Rami.  _

_ “Um, hello,” the newcomer called from the door, catching Joe’s attention. He wasn’t sure what he expected from the mildly confused British accent, he really hadn’t had much time to even google his costars, but the man standing in the doorway was definitely  _ **_not_ ** _ what he’d imagined.  _

_ “Hey,” he managed, ignoring the amused look Rami shot him. Sometimes having a friend that knew you inside and out was great, but other times they could be a problem. Like now, when Rami definitely caught the strange note in his voice.  _

__ **_Asshole._ **

_ Rami introduced himself as he stood up from his spot on the floor.  _

_ “Ben Hardy,” the man introduced himself, turning towards Joe after he’d helped Rami back on his feet. Joe managed to stammer out his name without making a complete fool of himself at the very least.  _

_ Fuck, the universe seemed to hate him. Working closely with one of the most attractive guys he’d ever seen, for the next couple of months of filming? There was no way he’d survive.  _

_ - _

Ben’s eyes fluttered open some time later to be met with his boyfriend laying across from him, watching with half-open eyes and looking rather content. Ben couldn’t help but consider himself lucky, landing a man like Joe. 

“Morning, love,” he murmured. He didn’t think his morning voice was all that great, all scratchy and rough from sleep, but Joe positively  _ melted _ , so maybe it wasn’t terrible. 

“Morning,” Joe whispered as he reached for Ben’s hand that lay between their pillows. 

_ Their _ pillows,  _ their _ bed,  _ their _ apartment. At least, their main place in London where they spent most of their time, a place that had been just Ben’s before. The knick knacks and decorations scattered about the place stood as enough evidence of how homey the place had gotten since Joe had moved in. Before, Ben had just used it as somewhere to put his head down and rest up. A house, not really much of a home with Joe to brighten it up. 

Joe’s voice pulled him out of his musings. “I was thinking, since we’ve got nothing to do for the morning until the guys and Lucy get here,” he said, smirking a bit, “We could go out somewhere. Just until the evening.”

“A date?”

“Sure.” Joe pulled Ben’s hand to kiss the back of it with a smile, lingering for a moment there under the covers, then released his hand and sat up with a long stretch. Ben watched happily for a moment, never one to pass up an opportunity to ogle his  _ very _ attractive boyfriend when he could. Joe would always describe himself as more ‘cuddly’ than ‘fit’, but Ben thought he was perfectly in the middle. Amazing cuddles  _ and _ sexy as hell. Literal jackpot boyfriend. 

-

_ Ben hadn’t been sure of how he’d get along with his new cast when he’d been handed the casting list. Actually getting the part of Roger Taylor left him speechless. He must’ve changed his outfit a dozen times before his agent told him to ‘get a move on’ and meet the three guys he’d be spending most of his time with.  _

_ And then he’d walked in to see one castmate on the floor and the other laughing, looking so gleeful that Ben couldn’t help but feel a bit more at ease.  _

_ Gwilym Lee, who looked almost too close to Brian May once he eventually put the wig on, easily completed their little group. By the time they started rehearsing Live Aid, they’d begun referring to each other as ‘the band’. Ben hadn’t had this sort of a bond with castmates before, the kind of thing he figured only came around once in a lifetime.  _

_ Every once in a while, he’d catch Joe’s gaze for a moment during a script reading, or one of the few quiet moments on set, but Joe always turned away before Ben could ever say anything.  _

_ - _

By the time they’d shut the apartment door behind them, Joe still wouldn’t say a word about what his plan was. He’d snuck  _ something _ out to the car earlier, probably thinking Ben wouldn’t notice. Ben figured he’d let him have his fun today. 

He’d grown to love watching the city give way to the countryside, passing through tiny villages and quaint hamlets, the sort of relaxing thing he needed sometimes. 

Joe eventually pulled into a field not far outside of one of the smaller towns Ben vaguely recognized from filming in and stopped the car. Now that he looked, Joe seemed a bit shakier than usual since they’d arrived. Ben reached over for Joe’s hand.

“You alright, love?”

“Yeah,” Joe replied, his smile convincing enough for the time being. “I’ll be fine. Just coffee jitters. Must be that new stuff we bought, y’know. A-Anyway, let’s go.”

Joe got to the boot of the car before Ben did and was already digging around among the coats, umbrellas, and assorted crap that’d gathered there. Ben’d just opened his mouth to ask what the hell Joe was looking for when his boyfriend reappeared, holding a picnic basket in one hand and a blanket in the other, grinning. 

“A picnic?”

Joe shrugged as he closed the boot. “Yeah. Something we haven’t done before, and I remembered my sister got me the picnic basket for my birthday one year, it’s got a whole set of silverware and wine glasses and everything, and we’ve got time. So, picnic date,” he rambled, holding the basket up to illustrate his point. 

Ben smiled. “Lead the way.”

-

_ The end of filming was in sight, a few short months of reshoots and the final few scenes to be filmed, then a far too long wait until awards season. As much as Joe was waiting for his next role, leaving didn’t sit right with him. He  _ belonged _ here, stealing Rami’s snacks, pulling pranks, bothering Gwil… dancing around Ben.  _

_ He  _ knew _ he was doing it and yet… he couldn’t bring himself to  _ do _ anything about this stupid crush. He’d found a home here, with their little group, and he couldn’t help but be terrified about destroying it if things didn’t work out.  _

_ So he pretended everything was fine, kept ignoring Ben glancing over at him, and hoped it would solve itself.  _

_ It wouldn’t, of course.  _

_ The four of them went out to a nearby pub, their current favorite as it was out of the way and small enough to avoid being recognized most of the time, one evening after filming had wrapped up for the week. Gwil slid into the seat beside Rami before Joe could beat him there.  _

_ Joe sat as close to the wall of the booth as he could, Ben sliding in beside him.  _

_ Drinks did nothing to distract him from Ben less than a foot away from him. Rami didn’t seem to notice anything, already on his fourth drink of the night. It was  _ fine _ , at least until Gwil held Rami up to make sure he got home and the two of them left.  _

_ Despite the empty seat across from them, Ben didn’t so much as move a muscle. Joe stared down at the drink in his hand.  _

_ The silence quickly grew oppressive, but he couldn’t bring himself to  _ say _ anything.  _

_ “Joe,” Ben said quietly, breaking the bubble of silence that had surrounded them. “Are… Are you staying around for a bit then?” Joe finally turned his head then just as Ben glanced over, hesitancy clear in his eyes.  _

_ It truly hit him then, that he couldn’t let himself  _ lose _ this once they said goodbye to this movie. Letting Ben just… leave him? Something in him nearly broke at the thought.  _

_ “Ben, I…” _

_ Maybe it showed in his eyes, or maybe Ben just  _ knew _ somehow what was running through his mind, but Joe barely had time to  _ notice _ before Ben grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him into a vicious kiss that Joe returned after a moment of surprise. The thought of anyone seeing them barely lasted a second, Ben providing the perfect distraction.  _

-

Setting the picnic out on the blanket was a welcome distraction from the light weight of the small box in his coat pocket. The only person who actually knew was Brian, surprisingly, who’d just been lucky enough to guess when they’d last spoken on the phone. He hadn’t even told  _ Rami _ yet. 

Ben didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss, that or he just wasn’t saying anything, as he grabbed the wine glasses and the bottle to begin filling their glasses up. It was  _ fine _ , there was no way this could go south. 

The meal, sushi from their favorite place that Joe had managed to keep cool (though it’d taken almost every ice pack in the apartment), went easily enough. 

“Should probably leave soon to get back home in time, shouldn’t we?” Ben asked as he refilled their wine glasses. “You know how Gwil gets when we’re late.”

“Yeah,” Joe felt himself nodding automatically.  _ Now or never, idiot _ ran through his mind. 

While Ben rummaged through the picnic basket, going on about  _ something _ he’d seen online at some point, Joe took a deep breath, pulled the little box out of his pocket and knelt as steadily as he could on the picnic blanket in front of Ben as his boyfriend looked up, his sentence cutting off midway. 

“Joe…”

He snapped the box open and managed a halfway-confident smile as he spoke. “Ben Hardy, I couldn’t have found anyone as perfect for me as you. You never fail to bring me up, no matter what, and I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else. You’re literally the love of my life, so…” He paused, pulling in a deep breath, and grinned. “Will you marry me, Ben?”

-

_ It was a miracle no one had found out about this  _ thing _ the two of them had going on. Filming had finally wrapped up for the most part, awards season set to begin within the next few weeks, and yet there hadn’t been a whisper hinting that any press had found out.  _

_ Ben glanced over at Joe, burrowed under the blankets with little more than his head visible, and reached over to fix a stray section of hair.  _

_ This, whatever it was, remained undefined whenever both of them found the free time and a spare bedroom whether in a hotel or either of their temporary London apartments. Between press tours, the end of filming, spending as much time together as a cast before BoRhap ended for good, there hadn’t been much time for a conversation about what the hell they meant to each other.  _

_ Ben knew.  _

_ He knew he was in  _ love _ with Joe, and the thought terrified him unlike anything else. Going from the sort of friends with benefits type thing they had going on at the moment to, what, boyfriends? It had to wait until the awards season finished, at least. He’d hate for his and Joe’s personal issues to get in the way of this movie winning like it deserved, like Rami deserved. Making a movie about a gay man was already risky enough in Hollywood, for christs sake. The  _ feelings _ conversation could stand to wait a bit longer.  _

_ Maybe he was being selfish for keeping Joe secret to himself, but Ben didn’t quite care.  _

_ “Thinking about something?” Joe’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He hadn’t even noticed Joe waking up at all, somehow.  _

_ He nearly said ‘nothing’, tempted for a moment by the blanket slipping down off of Joe’s bare shoulder, then sighed. “Us. This, whatever we’ve got here.” _

_ “Other than the sex, you mean?” Joe replied after a momentary pause, sitting up. “Okay.”  _

_ “Does any of this mean anything?” _

_ Joe paused, reaching over for Ben’s hand where it was fiddling with the blanket, and spoke after a moment. “Kay, so it’s a bit early for this heavy of a topic,” he began, shaking his head when Ben made to interrupt him, “just… it might not make sense, but it’s sort of been bothering me anyway. Um, it does, if you want a short answer? You can tell me to fuck off if you want, but I wouldn’t mind making this more, y’know, permanent.” _

_ “Like dating? You’d be alright with telling the public about  _ this _?” Ben managed.  _

_ “Yeah,” Joe said with a nod. “I mean, there’s plenty of the fans that, y’know, ship us or whatever, and I don’t  _ want _ to keep you a secret. Besides,” he paused, grinning, “I’m a terrible secret keeper, so’s Rami. But... yeah, boyfriends. ‘S long as I get to call you mine.” _

_ For a moment, his mind froze. Joe started shifting around nervously, opening his mouth as if to say something, and Ben launched into action, pinning him into the bed with a fiery kiss. Joe responded almost instantly, kicking the blanket off and surging upwards into the kiss in one quick move.  _

_ “Is that a yes, then?” Joe murmured when they parted for air a moment later.  _

_ Ben paused for a split second, watching the hope bloom in Joe’s gaze, and nodded. “Of course it’s a... _

-

“ _ Yes _ ,” Ben said breathlessly, nodding down at Joe. “I… yes, of course.”

Joe nearly tripped over the blanket on his way back up, his hand shaking as he slid the ring onto Ben’s outstretched finger. It wasn’t all that fancy, just a silver band braided together in a sort of celtic knot look, but Ben stared at it in awe all the same. He’d gotten it  _ months _ ago, had it hid in various places around the apartment ever since, waiting for the perfect time. Ten minutes ago, he hadn’t been sure he could even go through with it, but now…

Ben was his  _ fiance _ , he realized as he was pulled into a giddy kiss, just  _ his _ . How lucky could he  _ be _ ?

“Are we going to have to tell everyone, then?” Ben asked a few minutes later once they pulled apart, glancing down at his ring every few seconds, as if he still couldn’t believe it even existed at all.

Joe reached for Ben’s hands, just holding them for a few moments, then shrugged. “Sure. Maybe not right away, other than the guys, but eventually. Whenever you’re comfortable.”

-

And that was it, wasn’t it? The reason Ben loved him so much, that it mattered more when  _ Ben _ was feeling comfortable, nevermind how Joe himself felt. He always felt  _ cared for _ no matter what. Ben spared an occasional glance over as they packed up the picnic later and carried their things back to the car. Joe was just so  _ genuine _ with those he cared about, so simply  _ kind _ , that it never ceased to amaze Ben. 

He couldn’t help but stare at his ring on the trip home in complete awe. The two of them had gotten serious lately, sure, but somehow he hadn’t expected  _ this _ . He should’ve known, thinking back with a smile, from how jumpy Joe had gotten in the past few weeks. 

And shit, he’d be getting  _ married _ now, the thought hit him. Being able to show how much he loved Joe in front of  _ everyone _ …  _ Fuck _ . 

-

Surprisingly, Rami didn’t notice anything amiss upon entering the apartment. Ben wasn’t exactly showing the ring off from where he sat beside Joe (on their old couch that Joe refused to get rid of because it ‘works just fine, Ben’). Lucy was busy tapping away at her phone, sounding absentminded when she replied to Ben’s offer of tea. Gwilym shouted  _ his _ response as he was still shoving off his coat, having arrived late. 

“Sorry I’m late, I’ve got gotten back in from Melbourne,” Gwil explained, flopping down onto the second couch on Rami’s other side. Lucy finally slid her phone back into her pocket. 

“Usually Rami’s late,” she teased, her boyfriend rolling his eyes with a smile. 

Joe watched the exchange, how easy it was between the two. Rami didn’t often get on that well so quickly with new people, other than Joe, but there’d been almost a  _ click _ when they’d all been introduced to the actress who would play Mary alongside Rami’s Freddie. Joe’d almost been jealous while he’d still been pining over Ben, before the two of them came to their sense and found their wonderful rhythm. 

Ben called out, “I bring gifts of tea,” as he walked back into the room, tea tray in hand, breaking Joe’s thought bubble. Rami and Gwil both grabbed their cups off the tray, the ones they always used when visiting, before Ben could hand them over. 

Lucy waited for hers, smiling when Ben handed it to her, then paused. She blinked once or twice, the gasped. Rami whipped around, looking somewhere between concerned and confused. 

“Ben~,” she sang, a teasing glimmer in her eyes, “Is that a  _ ring _ I see? I hadn’t thought you were one for jewelry.”

Rami noticed it too then, looking from Ben to Joe, pointedly avoiding his gaze. 

Gwil laughed just as Rami said, “I thought I’d be engaged  _ before _ you, Mazzello. How come you never told me?”

“You can’t keep a secret,” Joe replied as Ben sat down next to him. “Just happened today.”

“You could’ve told me.” Gwil shrugged, smiling. “Did anyone know, or did you actually manage to keep it to yourself?”

“Fuck off,” Joe shot back, then muttered, “Brian figured it out on his own.”

Rami scoffed. “Oh, so Brian fucking May knew and not me, your very best friend in the whole universe? Lucy, I’ve been betrayed,” he said, playing at offense by flinging his hand up to his forehead and leaning over to Lucy’s arms. She ruffled his hair and laughed. 

“To be fair, he’s good at figuring shit out that we aren’t telling him,” Gwil offered. 

Joe paused a moment. “I didn’t actually know if I could do it,” he said quietly, reaching over to grip Ben’s hand in his own. “Didn’t want to get you guys all excited and lose my nerve.”

“Did you think I’d say no?” Ben asked, softly enough that the others almost couldn’t hear. 

“Maybe?” Joe shrugged, tightening his grip on Ben’s hand. “I don’t know, honestly.”

It had been  _ terrifying _ , those few seconds that had felt like hours before Ben’d answered him. Technically, it was a lie that he hadn’t thought that. He hadn’t been able to get the thought out of his head. The entire time they’d been together, even before they’d been truly dating and it had just been something on the side, he’d constantly been terrified that Ben would find someone better for him, that he’d leave that he might not be enough, even if the thought went away sometimes. 

But then Ben had said  _ yes _ , to being his, to spending the rest of their lives together and always being there no matter what, and the thought had gone away like smoke in the wind. 

“Guess it turned out alright, though. Shall we go to dinner?” he said, bringing Ben’s hand up to kiss the back of it with a grin. 

Now, he thought, he had all the time in the world to  _ have _ Ben, and that was all he needed. 

####  here 


End file.
